Jun 28, 2017, 8:46 pm
Last edit by: eponymous_coward
Cathay Award Guide Using Alaska Airlines Miles
Note: Cathay flights cannot be booked using alaskaair.com. Mileage requirements in chart form available on alaskaair.com.
Routing Rules:
North American Gateway Cities:
Western
Vancouver
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Seattle (Spring 2019)
Eastern (Can not be used if traveling to west coast)
Boston
Chicago
New York (JFK & EWR)
Toronto
Washington
Award Chart Links*:
Asia
Australia
Europe
India/Middle East
North America
Anyone with 90 posts and 90 days can edit the wiki. Everyone else if you want something added to the wiki please comment in the thread.
Note: Cathay flights cannot be booked using alaskaair.com. Mileage requirements in chart form available on alaskaair.com.
Request your Partner Award reservation on Cathay Pacific by calling Alaska Airlines Reservations at 1-800-252-7522 (TTY: Dial 711 for Relay Services) 5:00 a.m. - Midnight (PT), daily.
- If it's not on the award chart, it's not allowed. For example EUROPE is To/From HKG only.
- Stopover are only allowed on any CX award for North America awards as destination or origin. For instance: intra-Asia awards do not get a stopover. It must be a North America->Somewhere or Somewhere->North America award to qualify for a stopover.
- The only awards that do not break at HKG are intra-Asia or North American ones. For instance, Australia-Europe/Middle East/Asia outside of HKG will be two awards (breaking at HKG). The AS award chart can be misleading about this and give you the impression you can fly an award like Australia/Europe-ICN, but the chart for these award types will show "Hong Kong".
- One stop-over allowed on one way award. You can build open jaw and other advanced routings by booking multiple one way awards. Please note change fee rule below.
- Allegedly stop-over only in Hong Kong, but some have posted success in other enroute cities such as YVR or SEA.
- As of 5 June 2018 changes/cancellations made to a booking will incur a $125 fee which is waived for MVPG/MVPG75K. Bookings made prior to 5 June will be allowed one complimentary change or cancellation for up to 60 days prior to date of travel.
- Awards can be booked 330 days in advance.
- Cathay and Alaska (or an Alaska flight operated by SkyWest/Horizon on behalf of Alaska) are the only airlines allowed on a Cathay award. No other partner airlines may be used on a single award (e.g. American, JAL, Emirates).
North American Gateway Cities:
Western
Vancouver
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Seattle (Spring 2019)
Eastern (Can not be used if traveling to west coast)
Boston
Chicago
New York (JFK & EWR)
Toronto
Washington
Award Chart Links*:
Asia
Australia
Europe
India/Middle East
North America
Anyone with 90 posts and 90 days can edit the wiki. Everyone else if you want something added to the wiki please comment in the thread.
Cathay Pacific (CX) Award Redemption, Booking and Availability – 2017 and Later
Feb 16, 2017, 8:45 pm
#241
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: SEA, ORD, SFO
Programs: AS MVPG 75K, AA PLT, DL GM, SPG GLD, Hyatt GLD, SPG GLD
Posts: 202
Feb 16, 2017, 8:58 pm
#242
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: SEA, ORD, SFO
Programs: AS MVPG 75K, AA PLT, DL GM, SPG GLD, Hyatt GLD, SPG GLD
Posts: 202
Regardless, the seat AS reps couldn't see when I tried to book it is still available according to BA, JL and QF's search engines (I know what I am doing and know how to check for BA phantom inventory). So let's just say I suspect that perhaps AS agents were doing it wrong, or AS's GDS sync with CX is messed up, or CX is filtering search results differently for AS than their OW partners (I note that AS found CX Y+ I could see on BA but not F). Seems to confirm what the bloggers and others have talked about.
(I might try back though to see if this clears up.)
(I might try back though to see if this clears up.)
1) Some kind of kludgy, unreliable GDS sync.
2) Different award availability between partner levels (?). AS does after all have its own one-off deal going here...
3) Fairly Regular and Irregular award releases at certain (HKG) times, somehow hitting different systems with different delays.
4) CX VooDoo booking process which seems to be a mystery to half the AS CS agents.
Honestly don't understand why this is so damn hard in 2017.
What I do understand is that there's no effective incentive to fix the problems, thus we have this little cottage industry akin to Kremlin-watching...
Feb 16, 2017, 11:59 pm
#243
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
Programs: AS MVP Gold100K, AS 1MM, Maika`i Card, AGR, HH Gold, Hertz PC, Marriott Titanium LTG, CO, 7H, BA, 8E
Posts: 42,953
Feb 18, 2017, 7:15 pm
#244
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,083
Ah, makes sense.... 
What's a good way to rule out phantom availability for PE seats? JL doesn't seem to offer PE rewards on CX.
Also... If some seats show up on JL but not BA, can I assume those are "phantom" as well?
What's a good way to rule out phantom availability for PE seats? JL doesn't seem to offer PE rewards on CX.
Also... If some seats show up on JL but not BA, can I assume those are "phantom" as well?
Last edited by pentiumvi; Feb 18, 2017 at 7:23 pm
Feb 19, 2017, 3:46 am
#245
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 665
How's Sfo-HKG-BKK J/F availability these days?
Feb 19, 2017, 8:09 am
#246
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 59
LAX-DCA availability
I've managed to find HKG-LAX availability for my dates on Cathay, but I'm having trouble finding LAX-DCA availability on Alaska to get all the way home!
It seems like the transcon flights on alaska from the LA area to the DC area are all in the higher alaska award bucket, so they can't be tacked onto a cathay flight. This seems to be an issue all year, not just at end of calendar (main cabin or first class) The only flights that show a lower mileage cost are on virgin america, which can't be added to a cathay itinerary either. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is the availability on Alaska just generally terrible on transcon flights? Any way around it? Any insight would be much appreciated!
It seems like the transcon flights on alaska from the LA area to the DC area are all in the higher alaska award bucket, so they can't be tacked onto a cathay flight. This seems to be an issue all year, not just at end of calendar (main cabin or first class) The only flights that show a lower mileage cost are on virgin america, which can't be added to a cathay itinerary either. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is the availability on Alaska just generally terrible on transcon flights? Any way around it? Any insight would be much appreciated!
Feb 19, 2017, 10:11 am
#247
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: ANC
Programs: AS; Hyatt; Bonvoy
Posts: 1,718
I have absolutely no clue ... why don't you do the research for yourself and then report back to us? 
Not every combination is possible with miles, especially given the date limitations that typically occur when booking international award tickets.
Sometimes it's necessary to book a trip as two awards, paying the higher mileage level for the high-demand, high-value transcon flight on AS.
Or another option is to buy a separate trans-con revenue ticket with cash on Alaska Air or the carrier of your choice.
I've managed to find HKG-LAX availability for my dates on Cathay, but I'm having trouble finding LAX-DCA availability on Alaska to get all the way home!
It seems like the transcon flights on alaska from the LA area to the DC area are all in the higher alaska award bucket, so they can't be tacked onto a cathay flight. This seems to be an issue all year, not just at end of calendar (main cabin or first class) The only flights that show a lower mileage cost are on virgin america, which can't be added to a cathay itinerary either. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is the availability on Alaska just generally terrible on transcon flights? Any way around it? Any insight would be much appreciated!
It seems like the transcon flights on alaska from the LA area to the DC area are all in the higher alaska award bucket, so they can't be tacked onto a cathay flight. This seems to be an issue all year, not just at end of calendar (main cabin or first class) The only flights that show a lower mileage cost are on virgin america, which can't be added to a cathay itinerary either. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is the availability on Alaska just generally terrible on transcon flights? Any way around it? Any insight would be much appreciated!
Sometimes it's necessary to book a trip as two awards, paying the higher mileage level for the high-demand, high-value transcon flight on AS.
Or another option is to buy a separate trans-con revenue ticket with cash on Alaska Air or the carrier of your choice.
Feb 19, 2017, 5:22 pm
#248
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 540
I've managed to find HKG-LAX availability for my dates on Cathay, but I'm having trouble finding LAX-DCA availability on Alaska to get all the way home!
It seems like the transcon flights on alaska from the LA area to the DC area are all in the higher alaska award bucket, so they can't be tacked onto a cathay flight. This seems to be an issue all year, not just at end of calendar (main cabin or first class) The only flights that show a lower mileage cost are on virgin america, which can't be added to a cathay itinerary either. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is the availability on Alaska just generally terrible on transcon flights? Any way around it? Any insight would be much appreciated!
It seems like the transcon flights on alaska from the LA area to the DC area are all in the higher alaska award bucket, so they can't be tacked onto a cathay flight. This seems to be an issue all year, not just at end of calendar (main cabin or first class) The only flights that show a lower mileage cost are on virgin america, which can't be added to a cathay itinerary either. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is the availability on Alaska just generally terrible on transcon flights? Any way around it? Any insight would be much appreciated!
Feb 19, 2017, 6:40 pm
#249
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,392
Feb 19, 2017, 8:43 pm
#250
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 59
Thanks, all. It looks like my best bet is to go with a HKG-JFK reservation, and then just book a cheap AA flight home, or take the train.
Feb 19, 2017, 9:18 pm
#251
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
Programs: AS MVP Gold100K, AS 1MM, Maika`i Card, AGR, HH Gold, Hertz PC, Marriott Titanium LTG, CO, 7H, BA, 8E
Posts: 42,953
Feb 20, 2017, 8:10 am
#252
Join Date: Jul 2012
Programs: Delta Gold, Alaska Gold 75K, LATAM Black
Posts: 3,393
yeah as somebody else said. LAX - BWI is a really cheap route generally between $100-150 (on Alaska metal). I fly this route quite a bit.
Feb 22, 2017, 6:58 pm
#253
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: IHG Diamond, HH Diamond, BW Diamond Select, Accor Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,228
Feb 22, 2017, 7:13 pm
#254
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,083
A couple questions for you guys:
If JL displays available seats that aren't reflected on BA, would those be considered "phantom". Or does JL tend to have more accurate inventory counts?
Next, is there any way to search prem. economy seats in JL? Or is BA/QF the only way?
Thanks!
If JL displays available seats that aren't reflected on BA, would those be considered "phantom". Or does JL tend to have more accurate inventory counts?
Next, is there any way to search prem. economy seats in JL? Or is BA/QF the only way?
Thanks!
Feb 25, 2017, 1:57 am
#255
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 733
I'm looking to do ORD/BOS/JFK-HKG-SYD/MEL-HKG-ORD/BOS/JFK in August/September/October. The tpac would be F and the Aus flight J. I feel like I'm being very flexible because I'm open to most dates in a 90 day period and many combinations of cities.
Even at this awkward time (6-8 months early) I'm finding good tpac availability both ways but the aus flights are nonexistant.
1) Are aus flights generally more difficult and should I expect more space to open up soonish (or at close-in)?
2) If I book an aus flight in economy and space opens, can I then upgrade to J? Any fee associated with this?
3) Any other tips or things to know about HKG-SYD/MEL-HKG availability? I'm tried JAL, I've tried BA, I've tried Qantas search engines for awards, the closest availability I can find is November...
Even at this awkward time (6-8 months early) I'm finding good tpac availability both ways but the aus flights are nonexistant.
1) Are aus flights generally more difficult and should I expect more space to open up soonish (or at close-in)?
2) If I book an aus flight in economy and space opens, can I then upgrade to J? Any fee associated with this?
3) Any other tips or things to know about HKG-SYD/MEL-HKG availability? I'm tried JAL, I've tried BA, I've tried Qantas search engines for awards, the closest availability I can find is November...